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Portsmouth reps oppose National Grid rate hike

By John McDaid | Friday, 21 November 2014

Two of Portsmouth's state representatives — Dennis Canario (D-71) and Jay Edwards (D-70) announced their intention to press the RI Public Utilities Commission to reject a proposal by National Grid to hike electricity rates by nearly 24% next year. In a joint statement this afternoon, the two reps expressed concern for the effect of the increase on both homeowners and commercial customers.

“There just doesn’t seem to be any concern on the part of National Grid as to what a horrendous impact this proposed rate increase will have on Rhode Islanders, both residential and business,” said Rep. Canario. “Rhode Islanders who are already struggling to make ends meet will be facing what is expected to be an additional $240 or more for electric next year. Businesses that are struggling just to stay open will also face significantly higher costs. This is just too much at the wrong time.”

Rep. Edwards agreed. “As our state works to improve its economic status, this enormous rate hike is going to be a major impediment to growth in the business sector and is going to put further financial pressure on families across the state that are trying to hang on. I understand the dynamics of this increase — commodity prices rise at this time of year, there is insufficient pipeline availability to bring enough gas to our region. People expect to see utility prices rise, but the size of this proposed increase is well beyond reasonable.”

National Grid filed its request for a 23.6 percent rate hike with the PUC earlier this week, saying the commodity price spike it is seeing is due, in part, to lack of capacity in pipelines bringing natural gas to New England. When there is insufficient capacity to move more natural gas to the region, the price to use the pipes gets higher.

Reps Canario and Edwards said they understand the pressure on National Grid to maintain service to their customers in the face of rising commodity prices. But with the colder months rapidly approaching, consumers are already expecting to see higher utility bills as they try to keep their homes warm. A hike of this size, they said, is excessive.